Before plastic was introduced in the manufacture of shot shell casings the then popular paper casings offered no resistence to being crimped as the obvious nature of paper is, that it will fold in its original creases when introduced to any crimping device which comprises a cone or oval shape of its upper interior. However, new paper casings that had never been crimped would not crimp evenly and symetrically without the aid of a separate die that comprised of dividing and creasing deflectors which started the crimp before the casings were introduced to the final crimping die. The starter dies for this operation could be readily furnished by reloading press manufacturers but were not always a common fixture furnished at not extra charge, as most reloaders used only casings that had been previously crimped.
After the introduction of plastic shell casings manufacturers were challenged, wherein that plastic resisted being folded even in its original creases. In citing U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,302, LaVern S. Bayard, Devon and George Eckstein, Fairfield, Conneticut, Assignors of Remington Arms Company, Inc., Bridgeport, Conneticut, I quote of their invention, "the characteristics of the plastic material are quite dissimilar from both paper and metal, i.e., plastic does not take a sharp fold as does paper, being incapable of the slight delamination that takes place in folding paper, it assums puckered shapes unlike those resulting from the crimping of paper or metal." Reloading press manufacturers soon found that the simple starter dies used for new paper casings were not suited for starting the crimp of plastic, either new or used ones. The starter dies were not designed to rotate about the casing until their creasing deflectors picked up the original creases and the creasing deflectors were not precise enough to manulipate the unpredictable plastic.
In the early stages of reloading plastic casings I envisioned a single step crimping device, self contained of creasing deflectors and finalizing crimping facilities. To develop such a device was frustrating and I had my doubts that it could be successful, but I learned something from each new model. After many models and extensive experimenting the device was developed. I found that the many different types of plastic casings available for reloading offered something different in lending itself to be crimped in a single operation. The design of the crimping device to accomplish this is quite complicated and very precise. The dimensions of the crimping area are critical to within 0.002 inches and the angles of the deflectors and deflecting surfaces are critical to within one degree. The Mid-inner area of the die sleeve is also very critical because diameters of casings vary somewhat and the inner area of the die must admit casings freely but not so freely as to allow casings to wrinkle when pressure is applied for crimping. Experiments have taught that it is impossible to achieve a symetrical and even crimp on plastic without the above mentioned deflectors that start the crimp before it is finalized by an elongated plunger.
It was taught that the upper center fixed elongated plunger which finalizes the crimp was not successful when using it in the same fashion as other existing methods, wherein an elongated plunger with a flat abutting surface is used. When using this type of plunger errors were numerous but when I replaced this plunger with one whose abutting surface comprised deflectors cooperating with deflectors of crimping sleeve the errors were reduced drastically. The only problem that remainded was, that the plunger would rotate out of alignment with the deflectors of the crimping sleeve. By equipping the plunger with a keyway which allowed reciprocal movement and the crimping sleeve with a cooperating key this problem was solved.
I was later taught from experiments that the crimping device is so effective on the cold crimping of plastic that it is not essential for the crimping deflectors to align with the former creases in order to get a symetrical and even crimp. Although it is illustrated herein to comprise an uppward mounted swivel that is useful in allowing the crimping device to rotate about the casings in order to seek out the original creases.
The crimp crease deflectors herein illustrated are small pins pressed through the walls of the crimping sleeve. Although this is extremely effective, its production qualitites are poor. I have achieved the same results with totally molded plastic which will be the accepted method of reproduction.
By using several different types of progressive reloading presses, it was found that the ones that attemp to resize the casings do a poor job of it. The receiver index plate having two functions of which include, carrying the casings in a circle to receive their respective operations and extracting casings from their dies after operations have been performed. There is only one manufacturer of progressive reloading presses that full length resizes the casings wherein the' casings are retained within the receiver index plate. It is a very expensive press and very complicated therein to achieve full length resizing. The present invention teaches a unique method of achieving full length resizing and reforming the thin metal extractor rim of the base of the casings by the utilization of a male and a female angle in which allows the resizing die to resize beyond the top surface of the receiver index plate.
The present invention teaches further uniqueness in the transition of one guage to another wherein a progressive reloading press is used. It is emphasized herein that less mechanically inclined are often frustrated by other existing methods. The employment of a single pin to retain and release all upper suspended dies and a single quick action pivot screw being employed to retain and release receiver index plate, being a simple and fast method of achieving transition.